The development of LED lighting technology paved the way for replacement of fluorescent lamps running on the ballast with the LED retrofit lamps. The replacement of fluorescent lamps with LED lamps requires a considerable investment in term of labor cost for removing the existing fluorescent fixtures and replacing them with the LED lamps.
Various LED replacement lamps were proposed that are adaptable to work with the ballast and thus avoiding the need for replacing ballast fixtures. These LED replacement lamps operate on the AC voltage provided by the ballast. However, these LED replacement lamps are not compatible with all kinds of ballasts, especially older models. Normally a fluorescent tube does not conduct current until an arc voltage is reached and starts conducting at normal rate once the arc voltage is breached. The LED lamp shows no such behavior and starts conducting and turning on as soon as a voltage is applied. However certain ballasts either look for a barrier or have a sub-circuit that depends on a barrier being present. Thus these modern LED replacement lamps are incompatible with certain ballast types.
In order to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, the present invention provides a LED retrofit lamp that provides a strike barrier to the fluorescent ballasts.